Discovered the strange use of elephant hair

Unlike the hairs of all other animals that are responsible for keeping 'miserable', the feathers can help this great animal cool down.

Along with the ability to produce milk for raising children, feathers are one of the important characteristics that determine the difference between mammals and the rest of the animal kingdom. Hair helps the body retain heat - which is essential because mammals often have to burn a lot of energy to keep their blood warm.

In contrast, elephants - typical animals also have to worry about heat loss but never store them. Modern elephants often live in climates where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius and they have completely settled in warm areas since before the last ice age.

Picture 1 of Discovered the strange use of elephant hair

In addition, elephants possess a lot of meat to generate heat and a very small area to emit that heat. In fact, the ratio of the amount of body space they occupy to their surface area is among the highest of all terrestrial mammals.

Scientists have discovered that elephants can cope with heat by waving their ears continuously like fans, bathing water to cool and immerse themselves in dust to avoid sunlight, moving to shade areas, Spray water and mud all over your body. We also know, thick-skinned animals have a lot of " inner " tips to deal with external heat, such as circulating warm blood to their ears, where they can cool down faster.

However, there is no way in which these methods seem to be enough to solve the huge amount of heat the elephant can emit.

Meanwhile, a strange feature in elephants is that they still possess some sparse hair in some places like ears. Scientists once thought that these scattered hairs could be remnants or act as a sensory organ.

A new study by expert Elie Bou-Zeid from Princeton University (USA) and colleagues found that actual elephant hair does not have the effect of storing heat but is more likely to play a supporting role 'miserable ' release heat from the body.

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'The amazing and interesting thing is the extent of this positive influence. We found that coat coatings can increase heat dissipation in elephants by 5 to 20%, depending on the speed of the wind blowing in the environment , 'said researcher Bou-Zeid.

The team found that heat from around the hairline may flow through the elephant's hair-like body through electricity, provided there aren't too many other things surrounding the hair.

Specialist Bou-Zeid lsy explains: 'The heat exchange from a surface, skin or hair depends very much on the air speed right next to the surface. Right on the surface of the skin, the air speed is very low, and the skin slows down. The hairs can absorb heat efficiently from the skin through the root and release heat to the body through the feather ".

The team calculated that the hair began to cool when there were no more than 30 hairs on 1cm 2 . Meanwhile, elephant feathers grow at the rate of 1 fiber per 1cm 2 .

Previous studies have revealed, cactus hair and thorns can help plants cool down. However, this is the first time that animal hair recognition science has played a similar role.